THE MORNING AFTER
by animegrrrl
Summary: Ch.4 is up! Gohan confesses his problem to Yamucha. Story completed!
1. Gohan Gets Beaned

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Um, hi everyone. Just to let you know this my first shonen ai story(I've always written harder stuff.), so go easy on me if this fic at first seems to go nowhere. Trust me, it'll all come together in the end, but first a little character development, ok? Also, the beginning of this story if based on actual episode. Please review!  
  
THE MORNING AFTER  
by animegrrrl  
  
  
Ch.1 - Gohan Gets Beaned  
  
Orange Star High School: A 16 year old Gohan is up at bat. This is the first time he's ever played baseball. He isn't nervous about playing badly; the rules seemed easy enough. What he was afraid of is accidentally injuring Orange Star's crack pitcher Sharpener. Gohan had already messed up in the field, leaping much too high for an average human just to get the ball. He had to be careful, he had to repress his strength, or the people around him might find out just how different he was.   
  
Gohan watched Sharpener wind up the ball. The half-Saiyan gripped the bat and gritted his teeth. He was so concentrated on controlling himself that he didn't even move as the ball flew toward him- and into his head at 90 mph. It took a second or two of people staring at him slackjawed for Gohan to realize that he should be acting like he was in pain. Gohan dropped the bat and gripped his head. "Owch! Ow, ow, ow, ow..."  
  
*****  
It was a sunny day out. Yamucha sat underneath an umbrella at a sidewalk cafe. He was dressed nicely in tan slacks and a matching jacket. His sipped his capuchino while eyeing the crowd for his late date. He wasn't too eager about it; he was considering dumping the person. Not that he wasn't fond of that person, it's just- well, being on the receiving of someone who's always broke is a real drag.   
  
Something in the crowd of pedestrians caught his attention. Walking toward him was a nice looking young man, or at least he would be, in Yamucha's opinion, if the pedestrian didn't have a pink bandana(oddly lumpy) perched icongruously upon his head. Yamucha put down his capuchino and took a closer look at the handsome youth. There was something naggingly familiar about him... "Could it be...?" he questioned. That spiky dishevelled hair, rising up like black flames, those wide innocent eyes and open face... Yes, it definetly had to be... "Gohan? Oy! Gohan!"  
  
Gohan stopped. Someone was calling his name... He peered in Yamucha's direction. Surprise lit up his face. "Oh, Yamucha! Hello!" And there two long lost friends met on the sidewalk of a street corner cafe.   
  
Yamucha pumped Gohan's hand, the two of them smiling in delight at seeing each other. "Look at you!" gushed Yamucha, as he gripped Gohan's shoulders. "I can't believe how much you've grown!"  
  
Gohan chuckled. "Everyone says that."  
  
"But really, you have. I think you're actually a couple inches taller than me now. You're handsome, just like your father."  
  
Gohan blushed as he sat down across from Yamucha. "I am?"  
  
"Definetly. I bet you're a real lady killer."  
  
Gohan sank lower in his chair. "Um, no, not really."  
  
Yamucha laughed at his friend's embarrassment. "Poor kid! Alright, I'll stop teasing you. So, wanna tell me how you got that lump on your head?"  
  
"Oh, this?" Gohan touched his hand to the bandana like he had forgotten it was there. "I'm pretending to be injured. Earlier today I got beaned in the head by a fastball."  
  
"Yowch!"  
  
"Actually, I didn't feel a thing. I swore I was fine but they still wanted to send me home. I refused."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Kaasan."  
  
"Oh, your mom! Ha, ha, yeah. She'd be so mad if you missed a day of school for no reason." Gohan nodded in agreement.  
  
"They made me wear an icepack on my head just in case." Gohan winked. "Head concussions can show up later, ya know."   
  
"Oh man, that's hilarious. It's funny how a fastball wouldn't damage your Saiyan noggin and yet Chi-Chi could still hurt your father using a frying pan."   
  
"I know! Oh Kami, even Piccolo was afraid of the 'FRYING PAN OF DOOM'!"  
  
"Are you serious?!" Both of them started laughing really hard at the mental image of Goku and Piccolo, among the most powerful warriors in the universe, cowering in the presence of Chi-Chi. It was just plain ridiculous!  
  
After a while the pair calmed down. Yamucha asked how Gohan was doing and Gohan told him how he was in high school now. He also told him of the mishaps and misadventures that had happened to him since he came to the city. Finally, he mentioned how badly he had messed up while playing baseball.  
  
Yamucha made an offer. "If you want, I could really teach you the in's and out's of playing baseball. After all, I am a pro."  
  
"You still do that? I thought you had stopped."  
  
"Yeah, well, it pays the bills. Besides, I really do love the game. You talked about how much trouble you had controlling yourself. I know what you mean. If I really wanted to I could cream any player in sight. But I don't cuz it would cause too much trouble and because it's-"  
  
"Just not fair." supplemented Gohan.  
  
"Exactly. So if you want, I could teach you that too. Come on, I'll teach you right now."   
  
Gohan sweatdropped. "I'd love to, but I just went out to get lunch. I have to go back to school; the afternoon classes are about to start." The demi-Saiyan got up from his chair. "Nice seeing you."  
  
"Wait!" Gohan paused. "I'd really like to hang out with you. Maybe you could fill me in on what's happening with the old gang?" said Yamucha wistfully. Gohan's surprise showed through on his face. Yamucha noticed the expression. "I still talk to Bulma once in a while, but other than that..."  
  
"Oh... oh." He didn't know what else to say. Suddenly, Gohan realized that he hadn't seen Yamucha in years- and he came to a decision. "Meet me this afternoon, after my classes."  
  
"Where?"   
  
"Um," Gohan chewed on his lip, "meet me outside the school library, by the main entrance, at... around 3?"   
  
Yamucha's face lit up in happiness. "Sure!"   
  
Gohan glanced at his watch and his eyes bugged out. "Geez! I gotta go!" He took off running and called over his shoulder "See you later!"   
  
"You bet!" Yamucha answered back.   
  
NEXT: Ch.2 - Gohan Gets Lessons 


	2. Gohan Gets Lessons

THE MORNING AFTER  
  
By animegrrrl  
  
Ch. 2 - Gohan Gets Lessons   
  
Son Gohan wiped the sweat from his brow. "Ready or not, here I come." He dug his foot into the mound, winding up for the pitch. Yamucha grinned and crouched slightly, leg muscles singing tensely in anticipation. The demi-Saiyan let loose a scorching fastball! "Yatta!" Gohan triumphantly whispered to himself. The period of diligent study with Yamucha, learning intricately the ins and outs of the noble sport(a.k.a baseball), had truly paid off. The teen watched his fastball as it rocketed through the air. Gohan was convinced, with its unbelievable kinetic motion, that no one, nobody in any league, could possibly touch it.  
  
Which it why Gohan's elation sank like the Titanic as Yamucha's titanium bat connected solidly. CRACK! The ball sped out of the park and far, far away.  
  
Gohan held up a limp finger to point unbelievingly at his opponent. "You. Hit. It."   
  
Yamucha shrugged. "Looks like you need a little more practice." The former desert bandit held up the cracked remains of his titanium bat and sweatdropped. "Oy," he said mournfully, "and this cost a good $275 zenni, too."  
  
"Man, I'm sorry Yamucha. I'll pay for it."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I should have enough left in my savings to replace it. I hope." The last sentence was muttered only to himself. "But anyway, Gohan," said Yamucha with a visible rally, and pointing to the broken bat as evidence, "that's why your power is so dangerous and you need to learn more control." Gohan's vigorous nodding froze in midmotion as a horror-stricken shriek rent the the air.  
  
Quick as a flash they followed the source of the continuous screams. And there, beside a pathway in a woodsier part of the area, was an old lady screaming her frizzy little head off. "Oh, Foo Foo! Fee Fee!"   
  
Gohan ran up to her. "What's wrong, Ma'am?!"  
  
The old woman pointed in horror at the pair of poodles before her. One had a pink bows on its forefeet and the other blue, respectively, and were yapping excitedly. Gohan narrowed his eyes in scrutiny. He couldn't see what was possibly wrong them, other than that they were annoying- OH NO. His eyes widened in realization. The holes in those poodles' 'fros. They were baseball sized.  
  
Something moving caught his attention. It was Yamucha's bent form, rummaging through several broken branches. Gohan sweatdropped. Sending a ball out like that was like letting loose an old fashioned musketball! They were lucky they hadn't taken someone's head off.   
  
Yamucha dislodged the battered ball from a wedge in a tree trunk and held it up. "Found it!" he said, waving.  
  
"That's your baseball?!"  
  
"Uh, yeah, why... Ow!" With a vengeful cry, the old lady set upon Yamucha like a harpy!  
  
Or, at least, like a really mad old lady with a really heavy purse... Gohan put a hand on her shoulder. "Now hold on. There's no need- Hey!"  
  
"Hooligans!" The old lady shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Help! Heeelp!"  
  
"Ma'am, really there's no need- Yeesh! You don't have to hit me!" Yamucha grabbed the elbow of a cringing Gohan.  
  
"Yap! Yap! Yap!" went the poodles.  
  
"Whack! Whack! Whack!" went the old lady.  
  
"Bye! Bye! Bye!" went the hooligans. And off they ran into the woods, pausing only when convinced of their safety beneath the shade of a tree. They looked at each other and cracked up. "What a crazy old woman!" said Yamucha.  
  
"I know, right?! Hee hee hee."  
  
"I can't believe she thought we were criminals or something."  
  
"Well..." Gohan eyed the man before him. Scuffed blue jeans, rolled up sleeves, muscular and slightly sweaty arms, one hand holding the jagged end of a broken bat...  
  
"Well, what?"  
  
"Well, the way you're dressed, especially with those scars on your face, you do look kinda rogueish."  
  
Yamucha smiled charmingly and raised an eyebrow. "Rogueish?"  
  
"I mean, uh, uh... Trust me, it's a good thing!" Laughing, Yamucha pulled Gohan's baseball cap over the teen's blushing ears, put an arm around his shoulders and shook him affectionately. They started walking out of the park.   
  
"What about you though?" asked Yamucha. "What made her think that you were a punk?"   
  
"Hmm, I postulate that with this city's crime rate, and the majority of petty crimes that are commited by persons of my age group, it would not be too hard for an old and confused lady to mistake my lawful intentions, since I was clearly with your shady self." Yamucha shook his head in wonder.   
  
"Kid, you've got one helluva vocabulary."  
  
The sound of keys rattling, then the sound of an opening door. A certain blue-haired kitty's ears perked. Yamucha walked into his apartment. He was, of course, immediately glomped. "Yamucha!" squealed an enthusiastic Puar. "Welcome home."  
  
"Thanks." smiled Yamucha. "I feel welcome." The former bandit reached up between his friend's ears and scratched. She purred appreciatively. "Hey, you got a pitcher for me ready?"  
  
Puar blinked. "Yeah, but it still needs to have the sugar mixed in. I'll go do that now."  
  
Seeing Gohan's confused look, Yamucha laughed. "Pitcher, as in Puar makes a killer homemade lemonade. Not pitcher as in baseball."  
  
"Oh, I guess I've got baseball on the brain." Gohan said sheepishly.  
  
Yamucha turned Gohan toward the direction of his living room couch. "Make yourself at home. I'll join you in a minute." Gohan sat down. Yamucha paused to turn on his answering machine, then joined Puar in the kitchen.   
  
Gohan looked around shyly. This was the first time he had ever been in his 'instructor's' apartment. Boy, was he glad Yamucha had air conditioning. Gohan wiped the sweat off his brow and leaned back against the cool fabric of the couch. Relaxed, with his eyes closed, the demi-Saiyan became aware of a city's constant background noise, cars honking, traffic moving, and the nearer noise of a an answering machine in the apartment. "Yamucha sure has a lot of messages." observed Gohan. After listening to the sixth message left by a woman, Gohan grinned. "Yup, same ol' Yamucha." Then the phone rang.   
  
"Yamucha. The phone's ringing." Puar informed.  
  
"I kno-ooow." he answered from the kitchen.  
  
"Should I pick it up?"  
  
"No. It might be you-know-who."  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
Then a smooth man's voice came on. "Yamucha... it's me. It wasn't nice ditching me at the cafe like that. Now I know we've had our disagreements, but we can work this out. I know you'll come back to me. We weren't together long for long, but the few nights we spent together were... special. I love you, Yamucha, and I'm looking forward to more." BEEP! That was the end of the message.  
  
Gohan's mouth dropped in surprise. "Who?"   
  
Puar helpfully answered. "Oh, that's just Yamucha's boyfriend."   
  
"BOYFRIEND?!"  
  
NEXT: Ch.3 - Gohan Gets Spooked  
  
A/N: Hey. Wow, I remember starting this story the night before I left for Basic, in 2001, and finishing the first chapter after I came back, right before I started AIT. I started Ch. 2 after I came back from AIT, and now it's 2004, and I am deployed in Iraq. And I still have 2 chapters left... ; It'd better not take me two years more to finish this particular story. Animegrrrl is back, and I intend to finish what I started.  
  
Also, I've moved on to greener pastures. Look for my original work at fictionpress.net under animegrrrl, my NC-17 stories at adultfanfiction.net under VegetaDaimoh, and my online journal, photographs, and artwork at http:www.vegetadaimoh/deviantart.com. I also have a website dedicated to Piccolo at My AIM handle is VegetaDaimoh. Come talk to me sometime! 


	3. Gohan Gets Spooked

THE MORNING ARFTER

By animegrrrl

PREVIOUSLY ON THE MORNING AFTER:

Gohan's mouth dropped in surprise. "Who?"

Puar helpfully answered. "Oh, that's just Yamucha's boyfriend."

"BOYFRIEND?!"

Ch.3 - Gohan Gets Spooked

"Puar!" The blue animal jumped and nervously turned around, to face an irate Yamucha standing in the kitchen doorway.

"I'm so sorry, Yamucha." Paur expressed in her highpitched voice. "I forgot." The scarred man made a frustrated noise and rubbed his face. He opened his eyes and stared at Puar through the fingers of his hand, still tangled in his hair. The floating cat got lost, dissapearing in a puff of smoke.

Gohan's mouth was still open. He stood, trying to make sense of what just happened. Yamucha could practically see the question marks circling the demi-Saiyan's head. "Gohan..."

"Boyfriend?!" the youth blurted out again.

Yamucha scowled. "Yeah. I mean, NO!" Gohan plopped down on the couch with the force of that statement. Yamucha started to talk. "I'm not gay, and he's not my boyfriend." The demi-Saiyan looked at him with wide eyes. The older man had the grace to blush, and blurted out the truth. "I'm bi, and he's just a really annoying guy who thinks I'm his boyfriend just b/c I spent two whole nights with him. Big deal." Yamucha laughed weakly.

"All the stories I heard..." Gohan said, voice quiet, "I grew up about hearing what a wolf you were around women."

By now Yamucha had stopped pacing and stood staring down with his hands in his pockets at the people walking by in the street. Through his living room window this high up, they looked like tiny, animated dolls. This one on the cell phone, that one playing a sax on the corner. An officer giving a ticket to a wrongly parked car. Examples of urban life. Total strangers, whom he had given his life to protect. Shouldn't that have brought him just a little bit closer?

Yamucha closed his eyes and thought of someone who was far away, so cold. Forever out of reach. Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans. Proud, arrogant, violent, passionate. Sex. That's what he made Yamucha think about. Sex. Hots nights of sweat soaked beds, the grunted curse of an impassioned prince, to be held possessively in those regal arms afterwards.

Yamuch snorted. He didn't need to be thinking along those lines, or else he was going to overheat and burst into a torch right in front of the kid. But really, Vegeta was the first. The first to make him notice that tight male asses looked good in spandex, the first to make him wonder if Bulma really wasn't 'the one'.

"To answer your question Gohan, I was a dog. We'd fight, Bulma and me. She would date some guy to piss me off, I'd go out with someone less difficult, and eventually we'd get bored, kiss and make up. It was always like this. She was so sweet, and then so demanding the next second, criticising me, berating me for something and I would split. Anyways, our fighting got worse. She wouldn't sleep with me, because I wasn't 'perfect' enough, but other women would. I was an unbeatable player, an all-star icon in their eyes. I used to be terrified of intimacy, but now I couldn't get enough! And then Vegeta came to live with us. I always thought I was going end up marrying her Gohan. I guess I took her for granted."

"At first, I stuck around and tried to compete, but it just got too intense, too weird. I left after I found out Bulma got pregnant with Trunks. So yeah, I dated a lot of other people after her. We got along better when we decided to just be friends anyways.

Yamucha stole a quick look behind before turning back to the window. Still there. "Poor kid, I hope I haven't scared him." Yamucha took a deep breath and worked up his nerve. "Is it so wrong to like the good things in people, to appreciate their good looks?"

"No..." Gohan answered. "I guess not."

"There was another reason it got weird at Capsule Corp. Vegeta was attracted to Bulma. Bulma was attracted to Vegeta. I was attracted to both of them."

"WHA-AAT! Vegeta!"

"Yeah, haha. I hated him at the time, because of Bulma, and yet, I couldn't help but admire him."

"Vegeta, of all people... He's scary."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is." Yamucha smiled.

Gohan's brow furrowed in consternation. "Vegeta?? But he's short, and mean, and... like Piccolo? Maybe Yamucha saw that he could be really nice on the inside? After all, he did get a family... It makes me wonder what other guys Yamucha has a thing for... No. No, I don't want to know."

Curiousity got the better of him. "Saaay, have you liked anyone else? Like... my dad, or Piccolo?"

"What! No way kid!"

"Oh! Okay!" Gohan laughed in relief. Yamucha laughed in embarrassment. "Gee, Yamucha-san, it must have been awful, stuck between those two."

"I know!" The scarred man threw his hands up in the air. "I couldn't choose!"

Gohan thought of his mother. "I know what you mean."

Yamucha's head snapped around. "What?"

"I- I m-mean," Gohan gulped, "I- I mean... nothing." He stood up from the couch. "I've got to go now."

Yamucha grabbed his arm. "Wait, if there's anything you want to talk about-"

"There's nothing!" Gohan denied explosively while ripping his arm out of Yamucha's grip. There was something though, in the older man's voice, in the earnest gaze he gave Gohan while standing a few feet apart, that crossed the emotional distance that now stood between them and made the teen pause, just for a strained moment...

"Gohan, you can come to me whenever you want, talk to me about whatever you want. Remember that."

The demi-Saiyan looked at him emotionessly and walked out the door.

NEXT: Ch.4 - Conclusion aka Gohan Gets His 0.0

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whoo! Finished at midnight, Dec. 13, 2004, just got back from Qutar. Guess I had to be depressed over some stupid guy to be feelin' the drama for this chapter. I was stuck on it for the longest time!


	4. Gohan Gets His

THE MORNING AFTER By animegrrrl

Ch. 4 - Gohan Gets His

Two years later: Night time.

Yamucha closed the door to his apartment. Puar greeted him enthusiastically. Yamucha laughed a little as the floating cat went to make dinner for him. "Aw Puar, what a girl." His expression soon turned into a frown though, as memories of his latest disastrous date came back to him. Yamucha sighed. "Will I always be alone?" The tired man automatically switched on the answering machine as he plopped down on a sofa seat. He didn't listen to the messages.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Yamucha jerked out of his stupor. He opened the door to find an eighteen year old Gohan. The demi-Saiyan stood there with his head down, face flushed. You could tell he had been crying. "You said I could come to you for anything," he said in a low voice, "that I could talk about it."

"Talk about what?" Gohan gave a choked sob, like he was about to start up again. Yamucha guided the distraught teen in before he could and closed the door quietly, as Puar floated outside. "I'm going to go visit Oolong." the blue cat whispered.

"Thank you." he mouthed over Gohan's shoulder. The older man drew back. "Gohan?" he asked gently. Gohan just stood there in silence, looking for all the world like a broken puppet. "Um..." thought Yamucha, trying to think of a way to make this situation less awkward. He fell back on politeness. "Would you like to sit down?" Gohan glanced at the couch blankly before turning his eyes back down to the floor again. Yamucha blew out air and paced a few steps away, forehead creased in frustration.

"I kissed him."

The older man stilled instantly. Afraid to scare the teen back into silence, he turned around carefully. "What?"

"I kissed him. I had finally worked up the nerve to tell-" Gohan closed his eyes. "To tell Piccolo how I felt. He just stood there staring at me while I spilled my guts! I was desperate. I couldn't take it, I reached out to him and he-" Gohan's face twisted in pain. "He slapped me." Before he knew it Yamucha was holding the sobbing teen in his arms. He managed to drag Gohan over to the couch. Yet the teen, being the depressed and limp lump that he was, slid right off the cushions so that Gohan ended up kneeling on the floor, in between Yamucha's legs. The older man gave up all thoughts of getting Gohan to sit on the couch as the demi-Saiyan buried his face into Yamucha's stomach. The fingers digging into his thighs would've left deep bruises on a normal human. Yamucha was very aware of Gohan's heat with each muffled sob, felt the hot tears coursing down, soaking the already wet shirt. The only thing he could do was hold him close and watch, as Gohan relived the most painful of memories.

"What's wrong with you, I'm a Namek! You're confused, go spend your weak emotions and hormones on your 'female'. Isn't that what you're made for?" Seeing how devastated his former student was, the Namek relented, just a little. "Gohan," he said softly, "I've always thought of you as a son. I can't see you as anything else." Piccolo started to walk away from him into the night. "Go back to your female. It's where you belong."

The back of Piccolo's white cape was the last thing Gohan saw.

"Piccolo, of all people..." Yamucha thought, as he held onto the brokenhearted teen. "Hmph, he should be jumping for joy. Who wouldn't, if Gohan loved them. After all, Gohan is so nice and intelligent," here he stroked Gohan's thick black hair, and noted how he had filled out in the last two years "and strong and loyal, and good, and good looking..." Yamucha took a closer inspection. Even in this state of tear-stained wreckage the teen looked, well, pettable. "Damned good looking." Yamucha shook his head clear of the temptation and forced himself to speak. "I'm so sorry Gohan. Are you ever going to see him again?"

Gohan looked up sharply in surprise, as if the thought had never occurred to him. "Of course! I mean- oh." The full import of Yamucha's question fell upon him, realizing that this might have pushed their friendship too far, ruining it forever. The demi-Saiyan spoke quietly. "I don't know."

"Do you have any plans? What are you going to do?"

"Ha!" barked Gohan, startling Yamucha with his strange reaction. "What am I going to do?" he said with a bitter twist to his lips, "I'm going to propose to Videl tomorrow night."

"What!" gasped Yamucha. "Are you sure? Why?"

"Because I love her."

Yamucha gave him a look that said "Ok, and you're full of bulllshit."

Gohan ducked his head and flushed. "No, I really do care about her. It's just that- Oh, if I could've just had him..."

"Shh."

Gohan cried for a long time, and eventually tired himself out. Yamucha watched awhile as Gohan's fitful sobs calmed into the slower, regular rhythm of sleep. Cradling Gohan protectively in his arms, he then picked up the exhausted teen and deposited him on his own bed. He looked like a wounded angel lying there, with that pale skin contrasting against his dark hair, and a look of sorrow expressed even in sleep. You could still follow the path of Gohan's tears, as they had left a salt trail that squeezed out of the corner of thick lashes, down flushed cheeks, and past his slightly open lips. Those tear-swollen, soft and kissable lips...

"Damn it, Yamucha!" Gohan started to stir, and the chagrined man realized he had scolded himself out loud. Gohan's lids fluttered open and dark pools looked up questionly. "You're in my bed." Yamucha couldn't resist, he put a tender hand on the teen's forehead and smiled. "Get a good night's sleep, ok?" Gohan Gohan watched as Yamucha took off his shoes, first the left then the right, much like an adult putting a tired child to bed. Gohan was moved, though it made him feel a bit like a little kid.

The demi-Saiyan grabbed the older man's hands in his own. "Yamucha, thank you." Slowly Gohan brought their hands up to press against the side of his cheek. Staring directly into Yamucha's eyes, he lowered his head and reverently kissed the scarred man's palm. Yamucha gasped and pulled out of his grasp.

"No problem." muttered a flustered Yamucha while quickly exiting the room.

"Wait! Don't go." The former desert bandit turned around. A pale hand slid down a pale chest, and idly played with the top button Of Gohan's uniform. It was coyly undone. "Yamucha." the demi-Saiyan breathed, "Make love to me."

"Gohan! I can't do that."

Gohan's face shut down. "I've made a terrible mistake." The humiliated teenager stood up. Yamucha caught his hand. "Gohan, it's not that you're not unattractive. It just wouldn't be right."

"Why not! I'm 18!"

"Ok," Yamucha said jokingly, "I wouldn't get arrested. Still..."

Gohan ducked his head. "You don't want me."

"It's not that. Gohan, why would want to do this, with me."

The demi-Saiyan came closer, so that they were standing, face to face. "I would like to know what it would be like just this once to make love to a man, before I- I-" Gohan swallowed and slid his hand into Yamucha's. "I trust you."

Yamucha's heart swelled. He became determined to make sweet and tender love to this boy- No, man. Yamucha embraced the vulnerable youth and murmured his name gently. "Gohan."

"Um, just to let you know." the embarrassed youth said against Yamucha's neck, "You're gonna have to tell me what to do, um, cuz I'm a, fsvmumble..."

Yamucha leaned back to look Gohan in the face. "What?"

Gohan blushed and quietly whispered. "I'm a virgin."

The older man felt instant regret and responsibility. "Oh great." he muttered to himself. He gripped the demi-Saiyan's shoulders and looked directly into those earnest black eyes. "Are you sure you want this?" For his response Gohan leaned into Yamucha for a kiss.

It was only natural for Yamucha to respond in kind.

The first thing that he noticed was that he was sore- in several places. The second was that he had wakened alone. Yamucha groaned with the effort of rolling out of bed. "So that's what it's like to be with a Saiyan." he thought, rubbing his sore rump. The rumpled white sheets clung to him and made him stumble. He kicked off the last of the material clinging to his leg and switched the radio by his bedside on. "Hit and run." he thought as he blearily staggered into the bathroom. "Used yet again." Yet somehow, this time, Yamucha didn't mind. You couldn't hold a grudge against Gohan anymore than you could the father. "And he was so sensitive, downright edible... Kami, the noises he would make..." Yamucha leaned his feverish self against the cool bathroom mirror. "I thought I was going to have to lead him by the hand... Haha, guess not." One, two, the fog of Yamucha's breath formed and reformed against the mirror. Leaning up like this, in the stillness of his apartment, he almost fell asleep again when the melodic strains of the radio caught his attention. The smooth lyrics slowly registered upon his awakening brain.

Yamucha smiled. They were talking about Gohan.

"to know you, is to love you..."

"to love you, is to be loved by you..."

FINI

A/N: Thank goodness, I'm finally finished. Started in 2002, finished in 2006, looks like I managed to put out one chapter per year. Sad, huh? I thought w/me not being deployed anymore I'd finally get around to putting out more stuff. But now I work two jobs and also go to college full-time. All my energy and creativity is being sucked away. :( Please review this story and let me know how you felt about the end. What it comforting? Did it end lightly for you? Do you still love Gohan? Do you feel bad for Yamucha? I meant to end this story lightly, but my thoughts have turned dark. Personally, I think I've grown to hate Gohan a little bit. It's ironic, but after I've already written this story, a similar situation happened to me, where I was Yamucha. Like Gohan, this person has so much potential, and like Gohan, it's buried by low self confidence, crippled by not knowing what the hell he wants, and making bad decisions b/c he does shit just to please people instead of doing what is best for himself. No one's really made happy by that type of behavior. And I've come to admire Piccolo even more. Because he wouldn't compromise like that. He has the strength of character to be by himself, to withstand the loneliness, rather than just get into a relationship b/c you're being pressured... He's honest and wouldn't pretend. He doesn't use anybody to satisfy his own selfish emotions, unlike Gohan.

You still love Gohan, don't you? I do too. But I think I respect him a little less.

Second Author's Note: If I ever get around to it, I have another story in this universe titled, "Living With Death". Yamucha is the main character. He develops a bad case of AIDS from, well, living the life he did. Come watch a dying man confront his former lovers, hear a dying man contemplate how he should've lived his life, see a dying man finally realize that the love of his life was in front of him the entire time. Bulma, Vegeta, and Puar play very large parts. Which one does he end up with? 


End file.
